Coffee gave my life a boost - Mbabazi
Feb 13, 2008
JUST for the record, did you know that an expert in brewing a cup of coffee is called a barista? And just how many of us knew that there are people out there who are specialised in making a cup of coffee?<br>“You must be kidding.†That is the statement many an ordinary Ugandan has popped at my
By Nigel Nassar
JUST for the record, did you know that an expert in brewing a cup of coffee is called a barista? And just how many of us knew that there are people out there who are specialised in making a cup of coffee?
“You must be kidding.†That is the statement many an ordinary Ugandan has popped at my trying to enlighten them.
In fact, I also thought it was a big joke until I bumped into 22-year-old Robert Mbabazi, the head barista at the Nabagereka, Sylvia Nagginda’s Café Ballet.
For his prowess in brewing coffee, Mbabazi, who heads two other baristas at his workplace, is to represent the Nakasero-based hangout in the National Barista Championship at the Kampala Serena Hotel today and tomorrow.
The competition is the first of its kind in Uganda, organised by the East African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA), a regulatory body that looks out for producers of good quality coffee and puts them in touch with competitive buyers abroad. It is part of a promotional drive to encourage the local consumption of Uganda’s coffee as is the case with most coffee-producing countries.
Uganda is one of the leading producers of coffee in the world but local consumption is still low.
Each of the registered 19 baristas, including Mbabazi, the youngest, will have 45 minutes to impress a panel of six judges with their coffee concoctions, which will include identical Espressos, Cappuccinos and a signature beverage created from an individual’s selection of recipes best known to them, provided coffee is one of them.
“I cannot wait to beat the baristas here so that I can represent the country in the World Barista Championships in Denmark come June,†says an optimistic Mbabazi, who spends his free time surfing the Internet for information on coffee-brewing.
“I have tasted most of the coffee made in Kampala and found out the makers’ weaknesses, yet none has tasted mine. I am waiting to use their weaknesses to become Uganda’s champion. That is the technique the current United Kingdom champion, 22-year-old James Hoffman used.â€
It turns out Mbabazi is not just another young man who learned how to brew coffee on the job, but rather, a professional who has studied coffee from the farm to his grinder at the café, where he has served it hot to a million patrons.
To prove his specialty, Mbabazi has two certificates of merit in coffee-brewing; one issued by Main Trade Limited (MTL), a company that deals with coffee farming and export, while the other was recently issued to him by EAFCA after completing a three-month baristas’ training ahead of Thursday’s championships.
Mbabazi could not raise university tuition fees after completing Senior Six at Kazo Hill College in 2005. For someone who did not have the chance to see his parents from childhood and grew up with his uncles, fending for himself seemed the only way out.
“I hit the streets in search of a well-paying job in vain. I ended up a shopkeeper at Tim Grocery in Kansanga, where I earned sh50,000 a month,†Mbabazi recalls.
But seeing that his monthly salary could not maintain him, Mbabazi found another job at the neighbouring Tickles and Giggles Restaurant, where he was paid sh30,000 more. The job ensured his survival for the next nine months. Working in the service department as a waiter, he learnt customer service skills that would later see him through a chain of other hotel and restaurant-related jobs at Muyenga Club, Blue Africa Bar, Shanghai Restaurant and Speke Hotel’s Pizzeria Mama Mia, one of the famous brewers of coffee in Kampala.
“It was at Mama Mia that I learned how to brew coffee. Making Espressos and Cappuccinos thrilled me to such a love for coffee that I started taking it most of the time. On average, I take about eight cups of coffee a day and I do not see myself hating it. I love my coffee, man,†he says.
After about six months, Mbabazi learnt that the Nabagereka was making final touches on the Kampala Ballet and Modern Dance School, and that it would have a café – the Café Ballet, where dance students would relax for a cup of coffee after tiring hours of choreographic dance moves.
“I applied for a job as a barista, did interviews, passed and started working in December 2006.â€
Mbabazi says he had earlier been a job-hopper, but something about his new place of work made him feel at home.
“My boss, Anthony Samuel, motioned me into paying much attention to coffees. That is when I started reading up on coffees, paying attention to renowned baristas and how their works had taken coffee-brewing through a revolution.â€
Samuel liaised with MTL and sent the young man to Mbale to learn about coffee. The experience, Mbabazi says, taught him a great deal about the coffee world.
He was taken to different farms in Mbale, where he transplanted coffee seedlings to the gardens, and also harvested coffee beans, following them to the factories through the processing stages, all the way to the time they met the grinder. “It felt like being sent abroad on study. I was staying at the Mount Elgon Hotel at an all-expense-paid basis. I returned to Café Ballet after a month-and-a-half, with my MTL certificate of merit and skills like sorting coffee beans in terms of quality, nutritional content, grade and other elements known only to a professional eye,†he says.
Today, Mbabazi has the eye to differentiate between a coffee bean from Kenya and that from Uganda at a glance. At Café Ballet, he oversees the delivery of coffee beans from suppliers.
Mbabazi has a way of pouring a cappuccino in a cup, creating artistic impressions like flowers or hearts atop the drink. He says it is a skill one gains with continuous experimentation.
The second-born in a family of four children (a girl, three boys), Mbabazi is striving to stay ahead of the game by rehearsing with his tools.
“That way, I hope to make it big at the competition and perhaps dedicate my success to my parents that I and my siblings never got to know,†he says.
OTHERS IN THE RACE
Alfred Muhumuza: Swez Suites
Jonathan Ddumba: Kampala Serena
Christine Alituha: Kampala Serena
Peter Musana: Kampala Serena
Alanyo Vickie Brenda: Ban Café
Donald Isingoma: Café Pap
Cathy Birungi: Café Pap
Simon Waweru: Jovas
Laban Mujabi: Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA)
Fidel Bakomeza: UCDA
Claire Rwakatogoro: UCDA
Beatrice Neumbe UCDA
Jane Nakandi: UCDA
Rita Kyomuhangire: UCDA
Hillary Wanyama: Good African Coffee
Gerald Katabazi: Independent
Emmanuel Katongole: Cafe Pap
James Onyanga: Good African Coffee
JUST for the record, did you know that an expert in brewing a cup of coffee is called a barista? And just how many of us knew that there are people out there who are specialised in making a cup of coffee?
“You must be kidding.†That is the statement many an ordinary Ugandan has popped at my trying to enlighten them.
In fact, I also thought it was a big joke until I bumped into 22-year-old Robert Mbabazi, the head barista at the Nabagereka, Sylvia Nagginda’s Café Ballet.
For his prowess in brewing coffee, Mbabazi, who heads two other baristas at his workplace, is to represent the Nakasero-based hangout in the National Barista Championship at the Kampala Serena Hotel today and tomorrow.
The competition is the first of its kind in Uganda, organised by the East African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA), a regulatory body that looks out for producers of good quality coffee and puts them in touch with competitive buyers abroad. It is part of a promotional drive to encourage the local consumption of Uganda’s coffee as is the case with most coffee-producing countries.
Uganda is one of the leading producers of coffee in the world but local consumption is still low.
Each of the registered 19 baristas, including Mbabazi, the youngest, will have 45 minutes to impress a panel of six judges with their coffee concoctions, which will include identical Espressos, Cappuccinos and a signature beverage created from an individual’s selection of recipes best known to them, provided coffee is one of them.
“I cannot wait to beat the baristas here so that I can represent the country in the World Barista Championships in Denmark come June,†says an optimistic Mbabazi, who spends his free time surfing the Internet for information on coffee-brewing.
“I have tasted most of the coffee made in Kampala and found out the makers’ weaknesses, yet none has tasted mine. I am waiting to use their weaknesses to become Uganda’s champion. That is the technique the current United Kingdom champion, 22-year-old James Hoffman used.â€
It turns out Mbabazi is not just another young man who learned how to brew coffee on the job, but rather, a professional who has studied coffee from the farm to his grinder at the café, where he has served it hot to a million patrons.
To prove his specialty, Mbabazi has two certificates of merit in coffee-brewing; one issued by Main Trade Limited (MTL), a company that deals with coffee farming and export, while the other was recently issued to him by EAFCA after completing a three-month baristas’ training ahead of Thursday’s championships.
Mbabazi could not raise university tuition fees after completing Senior Six at Kazo Hill College in 2005. For someone who did not have the chance to see his parents from childhood and grew up with his uncles, fending for himself seemed the only way out.
“I hit the streets in search of a well-paying job in vain. I ended up a shopkeeper at Tim Grocery in Kansanga, where I earned sh50,000 a month,†Mbabazi recalls.
But seeing that his monthly salary could not maintain him, Mbabazi found another job at the neighbouring Tickles and Giggles Restaurant, where he was paid sh30,000 more. The job ensured his survival for the next nine months. Working in the service department as a waiter, he learnt customer service skills that would later see him through a chain of other hotel and restaurant-related jobs at Muyenga Club, Blue Africa Bar, Shanghai Restaurant and Speke Hotel’s Pizzeria Mama Mia, one of the famous brewers of coffee in Kampala.
“It was at Mama Mia that I learned how to brew coffee. Making Espressos and Cappuccinos thrilled me to such a love for coffee that I started taking it most of the time. On average, I take about eight cups of coffee a day and I do not see myself hating it. I love my coffee, man,†he says.
After about six months, Mbabazi learnt that the Nabagereka was making final touches on the Kampala Ballet and Modern Dance School, and that it would have a café – the Café Ballet, where dance students would relax for a cup of coffee after tiring hours of choreographic dance moves.
“I applied for a job as a barista, did interviews, passed and started working in December 2006.â€
Mbabazi says he had earlier been a job-hopper, but something about his new place of work made him feel at home.
“My boss, Anthony Samuel, motioned me into paying much attention to coffees. That is when I started reading up on coffees, paying attention to renowned baristas and how their works had taken coffee-brewing through a revolution.â€
Samuel liaised with MTL and sent the young man to Mbale to learn about coffee. The experience, Mbabazi says, taught him a great deal about the coffee world.
He was taken to different farms in Mbale, where he transplanted coffee seedlings to the gardens, and also harvested coffee beans, following them to the factories through the processing stages, all the way to the time they met the grinder. “It felt like being sent abroad on study. I was staying at the Mount Elgon Hotel at an all-expense-paid basis. I returned to Café Ballet after a month-and-a-half, with my MTL certificate of merit and skills like sorting coffee beans in terms of quality, nutritional content, grade and other elements known only to a professional eye,†he says.
Today, Mbabazi has the eye to differentiate between a coffee bean from Kenya and that from Uganda at a glance. At Café Ballet, he oversees the delivery of coffee beans from suppliers.
Mbabazi has a way of pouring a cappuccino in a cup, creating artistic impressions like flowers or hearts atop the drink. He says it is a skill one gains with continuous experimentation.
The second-born in a family of four children (a girl, three boys), Mbabazi is striving to stay ahead of the game by rehearsing with his tools.
“That way, I hope to make it big at the competition and perhaps dedicate my success to my parents that I and my siblings never got to know,†he says.
OTHERS IN THE RACE